Caffeine as a source for nitrogen doped graphene, and its functionalization with silver nanowires in-situ

In this work, we report the use of caffeine as an alternative source of nitrogen to successfully dope graphene (quaternary 400.6 eV and pyridinic at 398 eV according XPS), as well as the growth of silver nanowires (in-situ) in the surface of nitrogen doped graphene (NG) sheets. We used the improved graphene oxide method (IGO), chemical reduction of graphene oxide (GOx), and impregnation with caffeine as source of nitrogen for doping and subsequently, silver nanowires (NW) grow in the surface by the reduction of silver salts in the presence of NG, achieving a numerous of growth of NW in the graphene sheets. As supporting experimental evidence, the samples were analyzed using conventional characterization techniques: SEM-EDX, XRD, FT-IR, micro RAMAN, TEM, and XPS.